Skeeter Skelton

 

 

Charles A. “Skeeter” Skelton was born May 1, 1928, in Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas, the heart of the High Plains and the old Comanche and buffalo country. The son of a merchant, rancher, farmer, and hunter, he developed an early interest in firearms, especially handguns, doing his first pistol shooting with his father’s Colt Woodsman .22 when he was five.

 

Skeeter began acquiring and studying handguns during his adolescence, and developed a strong attachment to large-caliber single-action revolvers. Perhaps partly owing to his interest in the use of firearms, he spent only a brief time in college after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and elected to follow law enforcement as a career. He served as a city patrolman in Amarillo, Texas, as a U.S. Border Patrolman on the last patrol in Arizona maintained by that agency, as deputy sheriff and then sheriff of his home Deaf Smith County, as a narcotics agent for U.S. Customs, and finally as Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, from which position he retired in 1974. After his retirement, his interest in the firearms field remained lively, and he acted as a consultant to various firearms manufacturers and occasionally demonstrated their products.

 

In 1966, Skeeter started writing for Shooting Times and was the magazine’s Handgun Editor for 21 years. His first piece was a “Handguns” column which appeared in the July 1966 issue. He authored more than 400 articles for Shooting Times and had two books, Skeeter Skelton On Handguns and Skeeter Skelton’s Handgun Tales, to his credit.

 

In 1978, he was named the sixth recipient of the Outstanding American Handgunner Award.

 

Blessed with a loyal following of readers, Skeeter promised to keep writing gun-related material “until my typewriter freezes over,” and as always, he kept his word. He passed away on Sunday, January 17, 1988, at Sun Towers Hospital in El Paso, Texas.  

 

 

The 44 Special - A Reappraisal

6 - Guns & Varmints

A Letter From Skeeter Skelton

Ask Skeeter

Bill Jordan - Top Gun

Can You Handle The .44 Magnum?

Complete Guide To Buying Used Handguns

Converting .357s To .44 Specials

The Gunmen Of El Paso

Handgun Hunting How-To

Handgun Loads

"Handguns" and "Hipshots"

Hide For Your Handgun

Home Gunsmithing Your Six-Gun

Jeff Davis Milton

The Legend Of Charley Askins

The Life & Times Of Colt's Single-Action .45

The Long & Short Of Sixgun Barrels

Long Range Handgunning

The Mama Mia Mishap

Mauser 9mm Parabellum

My Friend, The .357

Pancho Villa

Point Shooting For The Pot

S&W New Combat Maggie

Sixgun Magic On Flying Targets

Skeeter Skelton...Rifleman

Skeeter Skelton's Sixgun Clinic

They Were Good But . . .

Tom Threepersons

What's The Best Trail Gun For You?

 

 

 

 

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